I am not impressed with the use of the term "meme"

[HalfManHalfBiscuit]

Yes, I had to read the Selfish Gene by Dawkins in college, so I am familiar with the term. Hardly an earth-shattering concept. Or even toilet-shattering.

But it seems that in DU every idea or slogan is declared a meme.

The only real meme of the last 20 years is "HOW 'BOUT THEM COWBOYS!!". The rest are just pseudo-intellectual garbage.

[liberalmuse]

1. The priggish snob meme...

<sniff!>

[dweller]

6. aka

HMHB meme
<coff>

dp

[homelandpunk]

22. haha. snobbish prig...

that would have been a DU "inside" thing...until yesterday, when I got the initiation. At least i don't feel so bad anymore.

[scottxyz]

2. Furthermore...

I'm not impressed with the "I'm not impressed with the use of the term meme" meme.

[roughsatori]

4. I'm not impressed with the "I'm not impressed with the 'I'm not

impressed with the use of the term meme'" meme meme.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

24. recursive memes

lovely :)

[alcuno]

3. What's "meme?"

I'm not familiar with the term.

[Ohio Dem]

7. Here ya go.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=meme

[baldguy]

8. http://www.memepool.com/

http://www.memepool.com/

[sistersofmercy]

5. Je suis d'accord, le mot du jour! La meme merde, c'est drole.

[catzies]

10. I know enough French to understand and agree with you too,

but I don't know how to say it, except maybe "Moi aussi!" :hi:

Memes are merde, you got that right.

Words Mean Stuff. Period.

[sistersofmercy]

12. Bonjour, je suis une francophile, aussi.

I just think it's silly when certain words become fashionable.

[OKNancy]

9. I think it's stupid too

it's like a fad or something.

[KFC]

11. Memes are quite the rage at Band Camp

But wait, isn't "Band Camp" a meme? Holy shit, I think you are on to something.

[scottxyz]

13. Aw c'mon, memes are great

A "meme" is like a soundbite - more like an ideabite or a thoughtbite. A little nugget of meaning that someone has lovingly packaged and sent off into the world in the hopes that it will proliferate like wildfire.

Which it sometimes does. Even if it's not entirely true. Which is one of the things about memes - like any human statement, they're not always true.

Like a soundbite, a meme can be deceptively packaged. Ingenious and uncandid. Not an outright lie, of course: the meme inventor wants their meme to survive and prosper - to multiply virally across internet bulletin boards and maybe eventually over the airwaves. Some of the most masterly memes are utterly plausible outright lies - a popular type of meme, because lies need much better packaging than facts.

Skill at formulating, identifying, analyzing and combatting memes is pretty important for political animals.

Having a new name like "meme" - rather than earlier words like "notion" or "rumor" or "claim" or "statement" - can be useful, because its Greek-sounding etymology (suggesting "gene") emphasizes the Darwinian images of mutation, adaptation and survival of the fittest and reminds us how complex the process of "getting the truth out" can be or combatting lies can be.

So I like the term meme, and I'm over the "I'm over memes" meme.

Here's some meme-analysis, from a Clark supporter. (Disclaimer: I'm not sure I'm a Clark supporter; I'm basically a Kucinich supporter but if he can't get elected then a Dean supporter but if he can't get elected then I don't know yet.)

http://www.theclarksphere.com/archives/000263.html

[KFC]

15. In other words, total bullshit

Although the "bullshit" meme has got me thinking.

[clar]

14. I like it

It's useful shorthand. If you don't like it, don't use it.

[scarletwoman]

16. And I am not impressed with your not being impressed.

I would hazard a guess that both usage of the term "meme" and exhibitions of pontificating smugness will continue all the same.

sw

[Feanorcurufinwe]

17. Aussi bien que l'utilisation gratuite du français...

[scarletwoman]

19. D'accord! (n/t)

[Trajan]

18. Blah Blah Blah ....

Its the "I dont care what the fuck anyone thinks" meme .....

You are not alone .....

Intentional ignorance is the norm .....

[Skittles]

20. are you really half biscuit?

how did that happen?

[homelandpunk]

21. I like when they pretend they are stuck inside a box

not to overlook the always enjoyable walk against the wind.

[aneerkoinos]

23. Meme is bull

the real thing is morphic resonance ("meme" launched by Rupert Sheldrake ;) ). The really interesting hard question is this: are our minds/mindbodies interconnected at subconscious (or superconscious) level, not excluding other life forms and maybe not even "rocks remembering their shape"?

I believe this is so. As in quantum theory, there can be no separate subject and object, consciousness and world, observation is action that changes the state of both of so called observer and object, observation is not looking at from distance but touching with our mind and getting touched. The world is magick.

But why do does our consciousness hold this separation into subject and object so dear? There are many possible answers, and we understan very little about consciousness and even less about mind. One thing we know about consciousness is that it is the great storyteller, creating the personal history of what happened about half a second after the event. The action of storytelling requires the separation of the story, the world, and the actor that tells it, the ego. Also, we have hands and we like to manipulate things to survive better in this world, so it is usefull belief from evolutionary point of view.

Like I said, we understand very little, but I believe we might learn quite a lot about how all this works by starting to study ourselves, if we put even a fraction of the energy and capacity we use to study the so called objective material world into this study of.. well, let's call it it Zen and the art of science :).

Okay, all this is very mindbogging. Literally. It can be vary scary, but also fascinating and liberating.

[zekeson]

25. I was with ya until the Cowboys bit

fuck it, you lost me there.

favorite team? Whoever is playing the Cowboys.

[quinnox]

26. Me neither

I think it sounds stupid. But now it has become a "cool" term to use at DU. Whoever dragged this term out of the forgotten ether should be transported to Egypt to work as a camel flea trainer.

[TioDiego]

27. What about the great big Rio Gande river?

[disgruntella]

28. we should all start saying "trope" instead!

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=trope

This keyword simply broadcasts "psuedo-intellectual garbage" IMHO...

[Classical_Liberal]

29. I completely disagree

The republicans used memetics for 20 yrs to demonize liberals, and it is an important concept to understand to reverse the trend. More people should read the selfish gene. Most people haven't and that is extremely unfortunate.

[salin]

30. If meme's were not real... then how did "liberal" become

to mean "socialist" or "communist" for so many people?

I prefer to think of it as using an echo chamber (talk radio and talktv) and repeating something so many times in different places at different decibels until it becomes accepted as fact by many.

[aneerkoinos]

31. "Reality" of meme

A "meme" is a social construct, therefore as "real" as human culture, basically meme is a limited case of language, a sociolinguistic phenomenon, and sociolinguistic jargon already describes better and in greater detail what is supposedly meant by "meme". The biggest problem with "meme" is that it is not a scientific consept, it doesn't explain anything or categorize anything, it doesn't really refer to anything tangible, it is just a posh word, a sociolinguistic phenomenon in itself.

If meme would refer to what Sheldrake calls morphic resonance, e.g. certain ideas, inventions appearing at the same time in different places without direct causal relation, then it would be interesting hypothesis, a meaningfull term.

[Capn Sunshine]

32. Relax. Unclench.

What, now meme is some high holy term not acceptable for public jargon?

Sorry pal, a meme is a meme is a meme.

When you see one call it so.

[treepig]

33. on the contrary, it impresses the hell out of me

similarly, if someone uses "paradigm shift" "outside-the-box" or "change catalyst" i'm instantly alerted to the "mission critical" nature of their exposition, and pay just a little bit more attention.

[Octafish]

34. The Little Turd from Crawford

It has a nice ring to it. It says a lot in a small package. And it loves to spread itself around. Putting into words the resemblance to the sad clown only describes the unelected fraud's condition: ten pounds of fertilizer in a five-pound bag.